It’s goodbye for now . . .

The solar project is complete!

Bill and Kathy bring the pieces of the adjusting support bar for the solar tilt mechanism. It is the finishing touch on the solar panel which is mounted on the roof rack of the Perfect Tow Vehicle.

Bill puts together a found tent support and a found awning support (How’s that for recycling!), and with some sawing and drilling and bolting and metal thingamabobs, he creates a telescoping safety “arm.” It serves as my third arm to hold up the panel while I insert pins in the adjuster bars. This is so hard to explain! Look at the photos. Click on any photo and it will open on another page. Click on the photo again to zoom in.

The white bar will be attached between opposite sides of the panel frame. The telescoping arm will swing down so the tip rests on the PTV's roof. It hasn't been painted yet.

Here it is mounted inside the frame and painted white.

When the tip is pulled back slightly through a hole in a bracket at the far side of the frame, the arm can swing freely.

Now it is in the support position. The tip was inserted into clear tubing in order to protect the PTV's paint.

The arm returned to its original position

Oh what a pretty sight! Thank you Mick, Bill and Kathy.

A few additional photos can be seen by clicking on “Solar Power” in the header.

Saying goodbye to Bill and Kathy, watching them drive away from my campsite, chokes me up a bit. Suddenly it hits me that I won’t see my new friends, including Chuck and Geri, for several months, not until next summer, and only with God willing. When I think of all they have done for me, I am overcome with gratitude. And tucked away somewhere in Tennessee is another good friend, Mick, who, incredibly, designed from afar and created the parts that make this van-roof-solar-mount possible.

A big hug and thank you for each of you!

The PTV, carrying a new solar panel on its roof and towing a cute, little Casita, is going to look mighty fine going down the highway on its way to Arizona tomorrow!

Looks great!!! We’ll miss you but looking forward to our next visit cause it’ll be under boondocking conditions, or at least we’ll hope. We’re heading to Dome Rock inQuartzsite, AZ and maybe we’ll see you there!!! The worlds largest swap meet!!! Grovvey was as usual excellent tonite!! Missed you!!! Chuck!

Awwwwwwww we are so sorry to see you go,yet so excited for the adventures and new friends that await you on your journey! We will be riding in your backpocket as we read your blog! I promise we will keep in touch. Please know, meeting you made our time in T or C just that much better! Now… go out and live life to the fullest and let the rest of us know all about it! Hahaha! 🙂

I am so happy for you. What wonderful friends you have made along the way. I am feeling a Hallmark movie in the works, all about your adventures and the wonderful people you meet along the way. I will tune in for sure!

Congratulations, that is very cool! I’m enjoying my solar, and I’m looking forward to hearing how you are doing with yours. Because I only have two batteries, that limits what I can do with mine, but so far it’s doing exactly what I wanted it to do, so I’m good. Solar does give you a feeling of freedom, and the catalytic heater just adds to that.

Sue- Solar array looks wonderful. Will come in handy when you boondock!. Enjoy Arizona! It has so many wonderful places to explore.
We got out of New Mexico the day the storm hit and are now just west of Tucson. Many wonderful places for Spike to explore. The state parks are great. We stayed at Catalina State park north of Tucson for a week and loved the views. Now we are in a county park west of Tucson called Gilbert Ray Campground in Tucson Mountain park. Highly recommend it.

If your motoring through the Ajo area give us a shout and if not we’ll maybe catch you further west sometime in January, February or March. We will be rolling out of here this coming Tuesday and heading for Cochise County near Tombstone Arizona for a month. Safe travels:))

Your solar setup looks very nice. A little more freedom allowed there, with less money going out! Always a good thing. Will look forward to hearing your next installment. Also will be interested in your next stop. Always interested in other sites in Az. We are “glued” to our place in the White Mountains of Az as our unit is set up as a retirement spot, with a covered deck, etc. Makes it nice but also limits any movement. Always in the back of our mind is the thought of checking out new places. We really miss going to Rocky Point Mexico to the ocean, but with the present situation with the border it has not been too safe, so we forego that pleasure.

Regarding comments and questions from Jeff on 12/8/11- Susan’s solar configuration is not typical in that the solar panel is mounted to and charging batteries in her tow vehicle. Her vehicle came with an aftermarket conversion package which included an inverter mounted and wired on the passenger side of the vehicle. The cables connecting the inverter to the vehicles battery (1) are #2 AWG insulated and protected by a 120 amp circuit breaker located on same side in engine compartment. During wiring of the battery box which houses (2) 12V AGM type sealed batteries, a decision was made to leave all existing wire to inverter from engine compartment and install a relay which, when activated by starting the vehicle, will charge the solar batteries. This part of the circuit, while depicted on the electrical diagram, is not complete because I was not able to find a power connection in the engine fuse box area to wire the relay. However, everything is there waitiBng to be completed (subject of future info from me the Sue). Jeff, hopes this helps. Bill